Lost
by lilsinsta
Summary: A girl named Cloud, um Yoh and the gang, Hao Asakura... I dont know what im writing about anymore... Disclaimer...
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes I wonder, everyone I trust, should I trust them?

My friend was someone I trusted. She was very nice and funny. Everyone liked her and admired her. Including me.

Perhaps it was something I did that made her go away. She had gotten pretty popular and simply up and left me. She made new friends and started all over. She forgotten about her old friends completely. But I don't mind. That's life. People just need to start over sometimes. I understand. I'll always remember how she was though.

She used to come to me and tell me about all her problems. She would explain how she felt and everything. But she was completely different when she was outside. You won't be able to know that she had cried at night.

So it all started one day when I just arrived at school. Usually I arrive pretty early, along with my friends and we just sit under a tree and talk. However, when I headed over to them I waved hi. I saw them look at me then turned their heads and pretend not to notice. I smiled and shrugged it off, because there were times when we pretend that we were disgusted with each other. I jogged up to them and put my hand on one of my friend's shoulder.

"What's up?" I had asked.

She quickly slapped my hand and pushed it off. "Don't touch me."

I was taken by surprised and stunned. It confused me. "Sorry." I murmured. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, of course not…" She stated and faked a smile, then it quickly turned into a frown. "Of course there is!" she stood up and so did the rest of my friends. They stared at me angrily, then walked away.

I really didn't understand what had just happened and I was bewildered. I was also saddened that they didn't even bother to tell me what I did. Or what happened.

When I entered the halls however, almost everyone seemed to be angry at me. I really didn't understand why though until an angry boy dropped the school newspaper on my desk and stabbed at the front page. "Why did you do this? And how did you know all this? Have you been secretly spying on all of us? Or are you just making stuff up?" He questioned forcefully.

I knew my eyes had grown wide and I just stared at the page. It had unpleasant facts about almost everyone in the whole school and it was said to be written under my name. "What? I didn't do this!"

"Sure, you didn't. You promised that you would tell a single soul. So you decided to write it huh?" My friend's voice came behind me. "I trusted you." Her eyes were sad for a second, then they hardened.

"It's always the silent ones." Another person spoke up.

I felt all eyes on me. "I didn't do it." I stated firmly. "I can't believe you guys won't trust me."

"You lost my trust." My friend stated and turned to the rest of my other friends. "You guys too." They were shocked.

So since then, my friends left me, and she left them. No one bothered to listen to me. No one wanted to know the truth. The school teachers and principal didn't even bother with the drama caused by the newspaper. They didn't seem to care. No one got in trouble. I had tried to solve it myself, but I didn't get very far because of my limited resources. I gave it up altogether. Even if I did prove my innocence, my friends wouldn't care anymore. For what reason? I don't know. But that's how it started. The whole school avoided one another like a plague. I believed that they were too ashamed of themselves. High school is the weirdest thing I have to admit. So I last that whole week without a single person talking to me, but I knew everyone was talking about me. It was isolation until another thing came up the week after.

I arrived at school and sat at my desk as usual. I heard crying however, and I turned around in my seat to see about five people in tears, sobbing their hearts out. They weren't dressed in their uniforms, like everyone else, but casually dressed. I noticed that among them was my ex-friend. It seemed like the five were explaining what had happened to them. I only caught on a few words, fire, house, family, and hair.

After they finished, they saw me watching them. They pointed at me and said something I couldn't catch and everyone stood up and walked over to me. I felt afraid at that moment. I wasn't sure what was going on had anything to do with me.

They surrounded my desk and stared at me. I was waiting and watching them. "What?" I finally asked.

"It was you wasn't it?" One of the students pointed out.

"It was me what?" I bite my lip. I didn't want to be accused again.

"Cloud. You are the only one with long brown hair." Another student spoke up.

I stood up now. "What does that have to do with anything? You guys are so vague."

My ex-friend finally said something. "We know you are the one who killed our families and burned our homes, Cloud."

"WHAT?" I shouted. I couldn't help it. They accused me of doing something that heartless. I couldn't believe that they would think that I would do something like that. "You can't accuse me without proof Sam!"

"Well, we all agreed upon one thing! And that one thing is that we all saw a person with long brown hair! You are apparently the only one who has long brown hair. Everyone has either dyed it or cut it." Sam cried out.

"There are hundreds of people in this city, yet you limit it to me. Why is that? There are endless possibilities. Yet you want it to be only me. Get a grip. I don't have the time to waste it on burning your house." I was becoming a bit angry now.

"Why? I'll tell you why. I don't know you anymore. I told you something and you just blabbed it out. I can't trust you." she pointed out.

It had became a one-on-one argument now and I could feel everyone watching me and her. I placed my hands on my desk. "I didn't do it." I stated plainly and stared blankly.

"You can't deny it because you were the only one I told. I lost my family now because of you!" She shouted and started crying. "Just because yours abandoned you and you watched your brother die doesn't mean that you could kill mine to make me feel the way you do!"

I winced. Her words stung so badly and it hurt. I bit my lip and glared at her. I didn't say anything and I knew she realized she went too far.

A couple more people entered the room crying and before I knew what was going on someone grabbed me and slapped me across my cheek. I felt blood oozing out of my lip from the cause of the person slapping me when I was biting my lip. Then I was pushed against the wall and I opened my eyes to see a bunch of angry looking bunch from a different class. A guy kneed me in the stomach and I crumpled to the floor. "I can't believe that you would do something so horrible like burning people's homes."

I couldn't stand it anymore. How could people not be able to see other possibilities? It was like they became brainwashed. "You don't know anything. You have no proof. Quit accusing me." I stood up with pain. "Quit attacking me." I glared at Sam. "You don't know anything!" I shouted and pushed past them to run out the door.

The teacher was walking in at that moment so I dodged past her and slipped away with her calling after me. I ran out of school and kept running. I didn't know where I was going, but all I knew was that I had to get away. Away from lies and fake people. Away from who I thought were friends. I felt lost. Therefore I kept running.

-----

Yoh Asakura was walking home from school along with Anna and Morty beside him. He had his hands behind his head as Anna was talking to him about cooking dinner tonight. Things were going pretty slow since the Shaman tournament was postponed. They were all just aching for it to start over again and hopefully, it would start soon. Everyone was back home except for Ren and Jun, who were sometimes staying with Yoh and Anna or staying somewhere close by.

A girl sped past them and ran across the street, nearly getting hit by a car. Yoh suddenly snapped out of his lazy expression and looked over worried. Anna's eyes were also following the girl even though her face was masked from concern. The girl tripped and fell onto the sidewalk. Anna's voice was stern. "Morty, go see if she's alright."

"Yes Anna." With his short little feet carrying him, he ran to the girl on the floor with Yoh and Anna following behind him.

"Hey, are you alright?" Morty asked the girl on the floor.

She turned her face away from him and didn't answer. She pushed herself up and began to walk away.

Anna grabbed her arm. "Hey girl, he was talking to you."

She didn't look back at them, but answered. "I know. I'm sorry." She tried taking another step, but Anna spun her around to face them.

Her face was stained with tears. Her lip was bleeding and one cheek was a tint of red. She didn't meet eye contact with Anna and just simply stared at the floor. "What do you want?"

Yoh stepped forward. "Are you okay?"

The girl didn't answer, but she looked up at them and taking in their features. She saw Morty, Yoh, and Anna, who was still grabbing her arm.

"Who slapped you?" Anna asked directly.

She mumbled. "No one."

Yoh placed a hand on Anna's shoulder. "Anna…" He said gently. "Let me ask."

Anna glared at Yoh, who was smiling, and let go of her arm. Yoh took another step forward. "It looks like you go to a different school than us. Your uniform is different." Yoh pointed out and Anna rolled her eyes. "Would you like to tell us what happened?" He asked and she didn't replied. Yoh scratched his head. "Come over to our place, we'll clean you up. Is that alright?"

She gazed directly at him and her soft blue eyes met his. Even without her answering, Yoh took it as a yes and stuck out his hand. "This is Anna and Morty and my name is Yoh Asakura." He introduced.

Her eyes shifted back to the floor and she closed it. "My name is Cloud Yuumi." She whispered. 


	2. Chapter 2

Anna sat down beside Yoh on the couch. "She's sleeping now."

"That's good. We should let her stay here for a little bit. I don't think that she would want to go back to her school." Yoh suggested. "Do you think…"

"That Hao is alive and burning houses again? It's a possibility." Anna confirmed. "I mean, we didn't actually see him dead."

"Anna's right Yoh. Maybe he is recruiting more followers again. From what Cloud told us, long brown hair fits Hao's description." Morty stated. "However, Yoh hurt Hao pretty badly to have him up and walking that quickly. He would need time to heal."

"Hmm…" Yoh nodded, deep in thought. "Why do you think that those students acted the way they did? She told us that they only wanted to accuse her and didn't seem to think of other possibilities. I'm sure that there might have been more that one person with long brown hair. Seems kind of strange don't you think Anna?"

"Of course. She could be telling lies Yoh. I think you should be on guard. We still can't trust no one. Cloud said that everyone seemed to be brainwashed. They turned on her in one day, when the day before everyone was normal. They wanted her out, which is kind of weird." Anna pondered then realized something. "Yoh, since you think that we should let her stay here, you know what that means…"

Yoh groaned. "But Anna, I thought you're going to lighten the load…"

"Quit complaining Yoh. Get up and going." Anna ordered.

"But-" Yoh started.

Anna glared at him and crossed her arms. "No buts Yoh. I want my floor to be squeaky clean in the next hour." Her eyes shifted to Morty. "You too Shorty."

"Ye-es, Anna." Morty quickly got onto the floor and began wiping furiously with a frightened expression. Anna laid back on the couch with cucumbers on her eyes suddenly and egg smoothed across her face. Morty looked at Anna awkwardly and Anna shouted without looking at him. "Get back to work Morty! I don't hear scrubbing! And in case you think I'm weird, eggs are good for the skin!"

Morty stumbled and hastily resumed beside Yoh, who was pouting. When they finished they were sprawled out on the floor breathing heavily.

"Yoh, time for you to make dinner." Anna said as she walked past them to the television. "Don't whine Yoh." She managed to say before Yoh made any objection.

Yoh smiled and got up. "Anna, when-"

"Not until you become Shaman King." Anna answered.

Morty sweat dropped. "How did she-"

"I'm psychic Morty." Anna's voice sounded from the television room.

Yoh just laughed. "I gave up trying to figure that out. Anna will be Anna."

"Yeah. I'll say. It scares me." Morty replied with a shiver.

About two hours later, after Yoh spent tormenting labor in the kitchen trying to cook something edible, he finally was able to have something on the table.

Anna walked into the smoke smelling kitchen and sat down at the table. "Let's see what you got." She said calmly.

Yoh gave an uneasy chuckle and placed a bowl of rice and some broccoli and beef in front of her. He sat down along with Morty and they all began to eat. There was silence for a couple minutes as they all tried the food.

"Not bad Yoh. I have to say, you surprised me." Anna commented and Yoh breathed out a sigh of relief. Morty just didn't say anything and ate.

Cloud awoke in a room she didn't recognize and panic for a second. Then she remembered that she was talking to Anna, Yoh, and Morty when she fell asleep. She had told them what happened, but she didn't know why she did it. It had all seemed to slip out when she was just thinking about it. She wasn't talking to them directly, but just staring off and speaking.

Cloud stood up and pushed off the covers. The house smelled like burned food, so she headed towards the kitchen. She saw Yoh, Anna, and Morty sitting and eating and walked towards them. "What happened?"

"Oh, Yoh cooked, but it actually came out better than I expected." Anna took another bite of the food. "Come try some Cloud." Anna pointed to the chair beside her. "Sit. And Yoh, please go get some for Cloud, and another bowl for me." She stuck out her bowl to Yoh.

Yoh was sweating nervously. "Uh, Anna?"

"Yes?" She stared at him menacingly. "Is there a problem?"

He waved his hands around. "Um, no, no, no problem at all. I'll go get some for you guys." He took Anna's bowl and headed into the back kitchen.

Cloud turned to Anna and saw her eyebrow twitching in annoyance when Yoh was taking longer than five seconds. Uh oh, Cloud thought to herself.

Yoh returned, chuckling nervously. "I'm sorry Anna, Cloud, but I… there isn't anymore food."

Anna stared at him emotionlessly. "There's no way you could've cooked so little rice in that rice cooker… so that meant…" She stood up walked over to him and hit him in the head. "Yoh! What did I tell you! I DO NOT LIKE MICROWAVED FOOD!" She shook him angrily. "Get it through you thick skull of yours that radiation can kill! I demand fresh food from you every time you cook!"

"But Anna! You liked it! And how-" Yoh was cut off by Anna shaking him harder.

Cloud stood up worried. "Stop Anna." She was about to walk over to them to pull them apart, but Morty pulled her arm and stopped her.

"It's okay, just leave them. It's Anna's weird way to express her love for Yoh." Morty stated and shrugged.

"You sure?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure." Morty said and turned over to look at Yoh and Anna, but he only saw Yoh lying on the floor with a dizzy expression. "Where's Anna?" He turned around to see a scary expression on Anna's face and her towering over him darkly.

"What did you say Shorty?" Anna glared.

Morty cowered. "Uh, nothing Anna."

Anna grabbed Morty and now begin shaking him. "If you ever say that again Morty, you won't ever see another day!"

"Ah" Cloud moved towards them. "Anna…"

Yoh appeared beside her scratching his head. "That's the way Anna has always been. So don't mind her. You don't want to face her wrath." He chuckled.

"Um, okay." She replied uneasily.

"Yoh! Don't you think that I haven't forgotten your punishment!" Anna yelled out and stared at him.

"Punishment?" He asked. "Oh yeah…" Yoh hung his head.

"Anna, why is he being punished?" Cloud questioned.

Anna turned her gaze on Cloud and she felt shivers going down her spine. "Simple, for making me microwave food."

"I thought you said it was good though." Cloud noted, remembering her line she said before.

"Are you questioning my decisions?" Anna asked fiercely.

Cloud smiled and placed her arms behind her head. With one eye closed, she said, "Apparently. I'm just wondering that's all."

Yoh began to chuckle again, but was cut off short when Anna threw a pan at his head. "Ow," He laid on the floor and twitched.

Anna pointed at Cloud. "You are to join Yoh in his 15 mile run after dinner!"

"What?" Cloud exclaimed. "Why do I have to do that? I'm not part of any of this."

"Well, now you are. You can't escape from me especially since you are staying in this house." Anna crossed her arms.

"What?" Cloud repeated. "When did I say I was staying I this house?"

Yoh stood up wincing and rubbing his head. "Well, you don't want to go back to your school right? I thought you would like to stay here for awhile."

Cloud stared at him surprised. "It's okay. I'll go back home. Thank you very much for your consideration though. I really appreciate it." Cloud bowed.

"No problem. I'll walk you home later. For now, I'll find you something to eat." Yoh smiled.

"Thanks." Cloud smiled gently.

Anna's eyes glowered and grew darker. She eyed Cloud, taking in her long brown hair and her blue eyes. Wait, Anna thought to herself, her eyes look like there are two colors. She stared deeper, indeed her eyes were blue, but the rims of her pupil were purple. They were enchanting. Her features made her beautiful and though she'll never admit it out loud, cute. However, her Yoh was being too kind to her. Of course he always was nice to everyone, but did he have to be like this especially since she told him to be on guard? Anna sat back down at the table.

Yoh motioned Cloud to sit as well. "I'll whoop something up right away." He said as he walked into the back. Then there were tons of crashes and screaming.

Cloud looked concerned and stood up. "I'll go-"

"Sit down. It's okay. I'll go help him." Anna stood up and walked into the kitchen. Anna's voice was heard yelling and there was a clanging noise. Then it sounded like someone started cooking.

"So Cloud, are you going to go to school tomorrow?" Morty asked.

Cloud turned her head to look at him. " I think I should. It's just one more day, then it's the weekend. I'll see how it goes and figure out what I should do after."

"Oh I see. That's logical. There must be something that's affecting them. I don't think that they are acting the way they should be from what you told us." Morty analyzed.

"What do you mean?" Cloud gave him a curious look.

"My theory is that someone or something is causing them to be the way they are. There is something that probably causing them to do the things. Or you are just being framed." Morty informed.

"I see. You may-" Cloud was interrupted by Anna coming into the room with two plates of food.

Anna placed one in front of Cloud. "Here you go. This was the only thing I could make fast."

Cloud smiled. "Thanks Anna." She had to admit that Anna was pretty nice even though she was cold on the outside.

"No problem." She sat down and started eating her plate of food.

Yoh stumbled out of the kitchen and whined. "Anna…"

"Yoh, Morty, go wash the dishes." Anna ordered and they trudged into the kitchen with Morty dragging Yoh back.

Anna ate in silence, then looked at her and saw her watching her with big eyes. "What?" Anna asked annoyed.

Cloud closed her eyes, took a breath, murmured something to herself, and then smiled at Anna. "It's nothing." She continued eating slowly, taking one bite at a time.

Anna thought to herself, she must have saw something. "Cloud, do you know what a shaman is?"

"A shaman?" Cloud looked at Anna puzzled. "Isn't that where a person communicates with a spirit? Like the Indians that perform rituals and stuff?"

"Yes, you can say that. Did you know that shamans exists today?" Anna stated calmly.

"Um, no. Why-? Um…" She looked confused.

"Amidamaru." Anna called out without taking her eyes off Cloud.

A second later, the samurai ghost appear beside Anna. "Yes Miss Anna?"

Anna watched Cloud's expression, but her face remained unchanged. Either she sees him and isn't surprised or she doesn't see him at all, Anna figured. "Do you believe in ghosts Cloud?"

Cloud watched Anna. "I believe in anything…"

She stared hard at Cloud. It was really hard to read her. Anna turned to face Amidamaru, "Go ask Yoh if he is done with his washing."

Cloud's eyes finally shifted to Amidamaru and watched him disappear. Then she looked back at Anna, not saying anything.

"Do you see spirits Cloud? Do you know they exist?" Anna asked. "I believe you see them."

"What difference would it make? Seeing ghosts don't mean anything." Cloud stood up.

Morty and Yoh walked in about that time. "It means you have one of the few abilities that very less people contain." Morty noted. "I can see them too."

"Oh, did you find out that I'm a shaman?" Yoh asked abruptly and in return, received a pan to his head.

Cloud gazed over to Yoh. "You're a shaman? What is that suppose to mean to me?" She turned back to gaze at Anna, who was still sitting down and watching them, unfazed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I have a feeling that I need to… Perhaps in due time, things may become clearer." Anna stated. "I do not understand this either, but maybe later…"

"Thanks for the food, but I think I should go home now." Cloud bowed. "Goodbye."

"I'll walk you home," Yoh smiled and added, "while I'm doing my run."

"Thanks, but you don't need to." Cloud said. "I can protect myself."

Yoh chuckled. "I'm sure you can, but I insist."

She smiled. "Whatever you like, but I'm leaving now." She bowed once again. "Goodbye."

Anna watched Cloud leave with Yoh following behind. She was trying to figure out the strange feeling she was receiving from her. She couldn't seem to grasp it and it made her uneasy.

Cloud walked out of their house and started on the path back to her house. It was now dark outside and the moon was shining brightly. Cloud looked up at the sky and smiled as she walked. The stars were shimmering beautifully.

"It's a nice night. Isn't it?" Yoh walked up beside her.

She nodded. "Yup. I love the stars."

"They light the way, when a person is lost." Yoh grinned.

"Yeah…" Cloud paused and thought for a second, then spoke up. "Once when I was younger, I saw a bunch of boys picking on this one little girl…"

Yoh wasn't watching her, but was listening intently.

"I ran up and punched the leader of the boys without thinking. I think I was about eight-years-old. Then suddenly the whole group turned and ran after me… I was running for so long and so far… when I finally stopped, I didn't know where I was." She laughed. "I was nowhere near home. I had ran all the way to the beginning of some forest… I was so scared, but when I looked up at the sky, I saw a single star shining brightly… So I followed it, somehow it made me happy and filled me with confidence. I walked for about two hours, but I got back to familiar surroundings." Cloud smiled. "My parents and brother were so worried for me…" She stared off then looked ahead. "That star usually comes out when I need help. It has always been there for me! I named it Valiant."

Yoh tried to suppress his laughter. "You named a star that isn't even yours?" He began chuckling.

"Hey! Be nice!" Cloud made a face. "I was eight."

Yoh only continued chuckling.

"Yoh! Stop! It's not funny! I was being very serious!" Cloud shouted, then looked away. "I shouldn't have told you."

Yoh stopped. "Hey, I didn't mean it. I'm glad you told-" Yoh stopped talking.

"Hey, why are there so many people around my house?" Cloud interrupted and began to run towards it. "Hey-!"

Yoh grabbed her arm and covered her mouth. "Shh!" He pulled her behind a bush.

The group of black cloaked people turned and looked towards the direction they were in. They had heard Cloud call out. A couple of them walked towards them, checking the area.

"What's going on?" Cloud whispered.

Yoh was watching them inching closer. "I'm not sure."

There was a sound of a radio call and a cloaked man close by them received it. "Commander, Cloud Yuumi isn't detected in the house."

The cloaked man looked back to the group in front of the house. "Alright, return to the outside." He replied and another voice entered.

"Commander, return over here. We need to discuss some matters."

"Yes Master." The cloaked man replied. He gave one last glance around the area then began walking back to the front of the house.

Yoh and Cloud crawled closer and watched from behind a bush to try to hear what they were discussing.

"Master." The cloaked man bowed to another dark figure.

"Commander, do you know where Cloud Yuumi is?" The dark cloaked figured asked.

"I'm sorry Master, but Cloud Yuumi didn't return home today."

"Pitiful. Commander, I would like you to meet Jalate, a seer." The figure gestured his arm to another cloaked figure. The figure removed her hood to reveal herself.

Cloud was watching with amazement. She was breathtakingly gorgeous. Her lips were red and her large eyes were so hypnotizing along with her long eyelashes.

"She will help us locate Cloud, Commander." The large dark figure informed.

There was a hesitation. "Is this necessary Master?" The cloaked figure asked.

"I would say so. We need Cloud immediately." The reply was firm. "No time should be wasted."

"I would agree. And this must be luck because…" Jalate pointed the bush that Yoh and Cloud were hiding behind.

Cloud scrambled backwards as quickly as possible and they tried to sneak away as hastily and quietly as possible.

"Cloud is located there." They followed her slender hand and saw them trying to escape.

"After them!" The large dark cloaked figure shouted.

Within seconds, a large group of dark cloaked figures flew after them and surrounded them. Cloud and Yoh turned and saw that they were circled from all sides.

"Well, well. Cloud Yuumi I presume." The large cloaked figure chortled.

Cloud glared. "Who are you? What do you want?" Yoh, beside her was standing still and watching.

"I would like you to come with us." The man removed his hood and smiled, revealing his teeth. "My name is Yashi. That is all you need to know." He was a large towering man, with a stern expression even when he smiled.

"No thanks." Cloud eyed around them, looking for a chance to escape.

"I'm sorry, but you have no choice." He laughed and pointed to them. The circle grew tighter as they close in on them.

"Stop right there!" Yoh had brought out his sword and stood poised, ready to fight. "She isn't going anywhere."

Yashi gazed at Yoh. "You must be Hao Asakura's twin brother. It's such a shame you don't work out your sibling rivalry, Yoh Asakura." He shrugged mockingly. "I think you should be ashamed that you must do that to your brother. However, I'm glad you did. It makes it easier for me."

"What do you mean?" Yoh glowered.

"He was interfering with my plans with his plans of the Shaman only world." Yashi looked over to the Commander. "Oh well, it's not the time to dwell on the past. Yoh Asakura, I would like you to meet your executioner, Ryo, my Commander."

Cloud bit her lip, they needed to escape somewhere, somehow. However, Yoh seemed to be one step ahead of her because without warning, there was an explosion and she felt Yoh grab her arm. And within the second, they were running.

Yashi waved his hand, pushing away the dust in his face. After it started to clear, Yoh and Cloud were nowhere to be found. Jalate and Ryo stood beside him. "I didn't expect any less from the person who defeated Hao Asakura…" They watched the empty street. "We'll obtain her tomorrow…" 


	3. Chapter 3

Cloud and Yoh ran all the way back, but avoided the house at first. Yoh had said to go around in a big circle incase they were being followed. They had slowed to a walk and there was nothing but silence and their hearts beating fast from the running.

"Yoh, do you know why they are after me?" Cloud asked.

Yoh shook his head. "I haven't had the slightest clue. He had said that Hao had interfered with his plans. He must be scheming something big. We must tell Anna about this."

Cloud looked at the ground and sighed. "I don't understand what is going on."

Yoh gave her a smile. "It's alright. You'll be fine. We'll help you figure this out. For now, stay over at our house and don't go back to school tomorrow."

She looked at him. "Thanks. I need to go back to school tomorrow though. I left something at school that I really need."

"It might be dangerous. I don't think it's a good idea." Yoh pointed out. "Just get a new one."

Cloud hesitated. "It can't be replaced… It's something really important to me."

Yoh stared at her, waiting.

"It's… a picture of my family…" Cloud smiled.

"Oh…" Yoh grinned. "I'll go with you tomorrow."

"What?" She looked concerned. "Don't you have school tomorrow?"

Yoh scratched his head. "Yeah, well… it's okay. This is more important."

Cloud giggled. "Anna won't like that."

"Right…" Yoh became deep in thought as they reached the house.

Cloud stopped in front of the house and looked to the sky. Yoh joined her and they shared a couple minutes of tranquility. A shooting star shot by and Cloud's eyes grew wide. "Wow! A shooting star"  
Yoh just smiled and gave her a quick glance. He saw that she had her eyes closed and her hands clasp together. "What are you doing?"

"Making a wish. Come on Yoh! Join me!" Cloud peeked one eye opened at him.

Yoh closed his eyes and when he opened them, he saw a couple more shooting stars. "It looks like the shaman tournament has begun."

"Oh…" She awed at the sight in the sky. "A tournament?"

"Yeah. Let's go tell Anna." Yoh walked down the walkway to his house.

They spent about two hours discussing the matters that had occurred that night before Cloud fell asleep. The next morning, Yoh joined Cloud on her way to school.

Cloud let out a large breath when she was outside of her school. She looked around, some people were watching her and whispering.

"Wow, you're school is pretty big." Yoh stated.

"Come on Yoh." She whispered and pulled his sleeve.

They ran into the school building and stopped outside her classroom. Cloud pulled the door open and the whole class stopped and watched her. "Eh, hi." she entered the room with Yoh following behind. She saw her schoolbag beside the teacher's desk and quickly rushed towards it. She opened her bag and saw that her picture was still there. Cloud let out a sigh of relief and smiled. She turned to see Yoh waving at the class and shook her head. "Let's go Yoh."

They began to walk towards to door, but suddenly, everyone surrounded them. "We can't let you leave." A girl informed.

Yoh and Cloud were surprised. "Uh why not?" Yoh asked. There was no answer. "Okay, forget I asked." He brought his sword out.

"Yoh! What are you doing?" Cloud's eyes widened.

"There are spirits in this room." He replied and at that moment, dark cloaked people entered the room.

A hooded person stepped forward. "Cloud Yuumi, you are to come with us."

She gave a panicked look towards Yoh, who appeared to be glaring.

"She isn't going anywhere with you." Yoh notified with his sword raised. "Told you it was a good idea that I came." he said to Cloud.

She gave a small chuckle and saw that more people had entered the room. Just great, she thought to herself.

"Hello Yoh Asakura. We meet again. Surely you remember who I am don't you? We were introduced last night." He paused. "The name is Ryo in case you've forgotten."

As he spoke, more cloaked people entered the room and circled them. Cloud grabbed a bit of Yoh's shirt and he inched forward.

"Attack." The word came out clear and slow.

They froze and everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Everyone charged towards them, Yoh readied his sword, a large force exploded around them, and everyone flew backwards.

"What just happened?" Yoh was blinking blankly totally confused.

"Who cares! Let's go!" Cloud grabbed Yoh's arm and they ran out of the room past everyone who were lying on the ground. They ran outside only to see a lot more cloaked people.

"It doesn't matter how hard you try to run, we'll always find you." The biggest cloaked man stepped in front of them. He removed his hood and sneered. "Hello Cloud, Yoh. Yashi is here for you."

Yoh jumped out and attacked, creating an opening for her to leave. "Go!" He shouted.

Cloud ran through and looked back to see him grin at her. She stopped and turned around. "Yoh!"

"After her!" Yashi called out and pointed.

"Keep going!" He ran towards her, turned around, and got ready to fight.

Some of the cloaked people were stopped by Yoh and some escaped past him and ran, actually flew, after Cloud.

She kept running. Every time she looked back, she saw them right behind her, so se stopped looking back and made many twists and turns, hoping to lose them. She lost count and stopped remembering which direction she came from because she could feel them right behind her. All the paths looked the same to her now, that was until she came to a clear opening that she had never seen when she lived in that city. She ran straight across the field and saw the trees straight ahead. Slipping through the branches and dodging through the trees, Cloud jumped over the roots and barely even had time to think. Everything was a blur in her eyes. She saw a person standing by a lake that was sparkling beautifully. Yoh, she assumed at the far distance since he was facing her. "Yoh!" She ran behind him and peeked over his shoulder. The cloaked figures stopped and brought out their weapons and spirits.

Cloud was breathing heavily and her legs ached so bad, but she noticed that 'this' person wasn't Yoh. He had longer hair than Yoh and his clothes was different than Yoh's. And there was no way that Yoh could've gotten there before her. Therefore, after thinking about it, she realized her mistake and froze.

The person turned around and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back in front of him. He smirked and looked at the cloaked figures. "So you want her eh?"

Cloud's eyes widened and she struggled to free herself from his grasp, but she couldn't get anywhere.

"Come and get her." He taunted and they sprung towards him. He lifted her off the floor by her wrist and she was caught off guard at how strong he was. He swung her towards the cloaked figures and she covered her head with her arms.

The cloaked people burst into flames and within seconds there was nothing left behind. Cloud flew through, hitting nothing but ashes. She landed on the floor with ashes falling around her. Cloud was breathing roughly and looking a bit shaken. She relaxed on the floor and closed her eyes, taking in deep breaths.

The person kneeled down beside her. "You must be of some importance if those shamans were after you."

Cloud sat up and stared right at him. "What did you do?"

"I saved you, so you better thank me." He stood up with the same smirk.

"I, um, thank you." She stood up and bowed. "What happened to them?"

"They died." He replied heartlessly.

"Why in the world did you do that?" Cloud looked exasperated. "You could have just knocked them unconscious or something."

"Their lives aren't worth much." He said and turned away from her, walking towards the lake.

She glared. "Every life is important."

"Hmph." He sat on a rock and rested his hand on his chin. "You called me Yoh, therefore I suppose you must have some relation with him."

"Yeah, I'm sorry." She apologized. "You really do look like him though."

He seemed to glower a bit, "Don't compare him to me. My brother and I are nothing alike."

"I… Why do you hate him?" Cloud hesitated.

He glared at her. "What reasons gives me not to?"

"Eh, he's really nice, funny, considerate, sincer-"

"Enough. It doesn't concern me how he is. It sickens me." He stared out into the water.

She bit her lip. "Did something happened?"

"You're really nosy aren't you?" He hopped off the rock then looked at her and smirked. "Surely you didn't miss out on the most important event in history, did you? Where Yoh Asakura defeated the infamous Hao Asakura?"

She looked uneasy and he leaned close to her face. "You're a pitiful human aren't you?" He put his hand under her chin and whispered. "I could kill you now, but I want to know why Yashi is after you." He stepped away from her and looked at her ever so evilly. "Forgive my manners. I am Hao Asakura."

"Cloud Yuumi." She informed and looked away from him.

"I'll keep that in mind." He started to leave her.

She looked around at her surroundings, not recognizing a single thing. Dread came to her, where am I? She asked herself. "Hey! Wait up!" Cloud ran after Hao, who didn't bother stopping and kept walking calmly. "Hey, do you know where we are? How do I get out of here?"

He turned his head and looked at her calmly, giving her the smirk that she already gotten use to. "Why don't you go figure that out yourself?"

She made a face. "I don't know how to get back."

"Well that's your problem isn't it?" He answered.

"Where are you going then? Maybe we are going to the same place."

"I highly doubt that. So I don't think it should concern you where I go." Hao finally stopped and looked at her. "Go find your way back on your own." A large flame enveloped him and he disappeared.

Cloud shrugged. "Oh well. Might as well." She randomly picked a direction to head towards and simply went. She found herself still beside the large lake and sat on the shore, taking a break. She had been wandering for about five hours, but she found herself back where she started. She ran her hand through her hair frustrated. What am I going to do? She asked herself then looked over at the water.

Staring out over the lake, she spotted a beautiful angel. Cloud marveled at the figure at the middle of the lake. She had beautiful long white hair, and her wings caught all of Cloud's interest. She felt as if she was trapped in time watching the beautiful elegant figure.

There was a sudden explosion and it jolted Cloud out of trance. She saw the explosion had occurred near the angelic figure. Chains wrapped around the angel and she struggled against it. Cloud turned to see that there were people trying to capture the angel from the other side of the shore. She jumped into the water and swam furiously towards the center of the lake. The angel was hovering above the water, trying to pull back against the chain. Cloud jumped up and grabbed the chain, pulling the person on the other side a bit forward. They were taken back a bit, but another person whipped a chain towards Cloud and it hit her arm, causing her to fall into the water.

Cloud winced as she fell deeper. There was a sword in the water that shimmered just right below her. Without hesitating, she swam lower and grabbed the handle. Pulling it, she headed back up to the surface and jumped out of the water, swinging the sword. It made contact with the chain and it snapped into two, causing the person to stumble backwards. Cloud reached out and grabbed the angel's hand, surprising the group of people and the angelic figure. She pulled her into the water and swam towards shore. They got out of the water to see the group of people standing there and watching them.

A man smiled at them and walked right up to them. "Hey little girl. You got some ability there. I'm quite amazed."

Cloud was dripping wet and she was still grasping the angel's hand and a bit worn out from the swimming. "What are you talking about?"

The man reached out and tried to grabbed the angel's arm, but it passed right through. Cloud's eyes widen and shifted to her own hand grabbing the angel's hand. "So you see, she's a spirit." The man grabbed her arm. "And you're human. Normal humans don't have the ability to make any physical contact with spirits. And even sometimes shamans don't have the ability to when spirits are in their regular forms."

Cloud dropped the angel's hand and brought her own hand to her face, examining it. The angel made a grab at her hand, but it passed right through. Cloud was confused and her expression showed that she was deep in thought.

"I believe that my master would like to take a good look at you. Come with me." He ordered and indicated with his head to his group to the spirit.

"Hey! I'm not going anywhere." She firmly stated and glared. "And she's not going with you either." She pulled her arm back and jumped back, grabbing the spirit's arm.

"It doesn't look like you have a choice." The man sneered and circled them.

She tensed. "I'm really getting tired of this." She lifted the sword up and dropped the spirit's hand.

"Wait, let me help you." The angel reached out to Cloud.

"How?"

"Just trust me. You know what to do."

Cloud reached out and felt strong pull between the both of them. "Spirit Unity!" Without knowing it, she had fused with the angel spirit.

In Cloud's point of view, the group of people were clearly shocked and surprised. "And to think I thought you were just a mere human. Turns out that you are a shaman after all." The man crackled and everyone began swinging their chains.

A large force exploded from Cloud and knocked everyone backwards before they had the chance to react. She ran past them and into the forest, disappearing from their sight.

The man stood up and brushed himself off. He could still hear the ringing in his ears. One of his members came up to him and the man ordered him. "Inform Master Yashi. I believe that we found the girl he was chasing. However, let me talk to him personally, I got some interesting information he would like to know that might interest him."

"Yes sir." The man bowed and got out his phone.

Cloud stopped and leaned against the trunk of a tree. The angel separated from her and Cloud's mouth was nearly hanging open. "What was that?"

"That was spirit unity, a technique that shamans could perform that allows the spirit to enter the shaman's body." The angel explained.

"I'm not a shaman though." Cloud pointed out.

The angel replied. "Perhaps you are, but you just aren't aware of it." She bowed. "Thank you for saving me. My name is Cho. I'll be at your service from now on."

"Wha- what?" She rubbed her face and answered awkwardly. "Um, you don't have to be at my service at all. Just… stay away from bad people." She smiled and bowed. "I guess I'll be going now. I need to get home." She started walking away from her.

Cho gave a gentle smile. "Wait. What's your name?"

She stopped and turned around looking cheerful. "Cloud Yuumi. Bye." Giving one last smile, she turned back around and jogged away. 


	4. Chapter 4

The rain poured harder and Cloud ran around the forest, looking for shelter. She finally spotted a cave and darted inside. She dropped the sword onto the floor and sat down beside it, shaking her arms to try to get water off her. She squinted at the outside rain as she sat by the entrance and shivered. Her arm was bleeding from the time when she had gotten hit by the chain when she was trying to free Cho. She lifted her arm to her face and grimaced when she touched her wound.

"You won't get any warmer if you stay by the entrance Stupid."

Cloud looked up surprised to see Hao Asakura towering over her. "What-?"

He knelt down beside her and looked at her wound. He placed one hand over it, but didn't touch it. After a couple seconds, her wound disappeared.

Cloud was watching her wound astonished and she lifted her eyes to stare at him wide eyed.

He stood up and looked down at her. Smirking, he said, "Don't stare at me stupidly. I have the power to heal." He turned and walked deeper into the cave. "You would want to get away from the cold…" He shifted his head to look at her with the corner of his eye. "…Cloud Yuumi."

"Eh…" She pushed herself off the floor and grabbed the sword, following him. This guy is kind of creepy.

Hao gave a little twitch, but didn't turn around. He jumped onto a rock and sat down.

Cloud saw rain falling in from the top of the cave into a pond in the cave and smiled. Wow… She gazed around. The scene here is beautiful, just like the lake. Droplets hung on the cave walls and it made the place seem like stars in the sky.

Hao closed his eyes and leaned his head onto his hands.

Cloud glanced over to him and saw him deep in thought. He looks kind of… sad? As soon as she thought that, Hao's eyes snapped open and looked over to her glaring. She made a face, and sneezed. "Ah…" She giggled.

He appeared beside her and threw his poncho over her. "Here."

She gave him a bizarre look.

He glared at her. "Hey. I'm helping you out. Don't take this kindness to heart because it won't happen again."

"But, won't you be cold?" She indicated at his bare chest.

He chuckled. "I control fire. So there's no worry for that." He smirked. "I wouldn't care if you died, but you need to stay alive… for now."

"Wait, do you know something that I don't?" She asked.

"I know a lot of things that you don't."

"What's going on?" She crossed her arms.

"I don't have any intention on telling you. Though from now on, you should stay close to me if you want to live." He smirked. "I-"

"Cloud! Get away from him!" A cry echoed through the cave and a white blur shot between Cloud and Hao.

"Huh?" She was surprised.

Before her stood Cho, and she pointed at Hao's now amused face accusingly. "What do you think you are doing to her? I won't let you harm her!"

"What? Cho? What are you doing here?" Cloud asked.

Cho turned her head to look at Cloud. "It's okay. I'm going to protect you from this evil demon. Get back away from him."

"Hold on. He didn't do anything-" Cloud started, but both Cho and Hao had already jumped away from her. She hung her head. "…to me."

"Interesting spirit." Hao watched Cho. "How do you plan to fight me?"

"You'll see." She answered and began to fly towards him.

Hao's Spirit of Fire appeared and this caused Cho to falter for a second.

"Whoa. He's big." Cloud gazed up amazed, but then snapped back to reality that Cho might not stand a chance against him.

The Spirit of Fire reached for Cho and Cloud quickly darted in front of her. "Stop!" She grabbed Cho's shoulders and held her back. "Calm down Cho. Don't get too hasty."

The Spirit of Fire stopped. Its fiery hand hovered behind Cloud for a second and she could feel the heat burning behind her.

Cho stopped flapping her wings, looked at Cloud and smiled. "Heh. Sorry, sometimes I don't think about things before I act."

The Spirit of Fire disappeared and Hao smirked. "Since you are so enthusiastic about protecting her, you are to be her guardian. She needs one anyhow. She can't train if there's no one to train with."

"Train?" Cloud and Cho glanced over to Hao. "What do you mean train? Why do I need to train?" Cloud asked.

"To protect yourself. You can't run forever. Shamans shouldn't be shamans if they are weak. Therefore my training should make you stronger than what you are now." Hao went back to his rock. "The shaman tournament is starting once more. I will need more followers."

Cloud remembered that Yoh had mentioned the Shaman Tournament just last night when they saw the shooting stars. "Why do you need followers?" Cho questioned.

Hao shifted his eyes to her. "You also aren't aware of who I am either? You called me an evil demon. I figured you knew."

Cho gave a embarrassed chuckle. "Oh, that was because I thought you did something to little Cloud here. I saw you half naked so I thought…" She blushed. "Anyways I have been sleeping for a long time, so I haven't been aware of what has been happening over time. Someone has been disturbing my resting area recently so it woke me."

"Pathetic. There's no purpose in me answering your foolish questions. Don't bother me." He turned his head and went back to thinking.

Cloud shrugged and smiled at Cho. They didn't know what really was going on, but for now they were both happy that they met each other.

I had already spent a week training and practicing with Hao and Cho everyday. It was really tiring and painful, but I won't give up. For some reason, seeing how strong Hao was, made me want to match his powers. At first, I didn't have the slightest clue what I was doing and messed up about every minute. I could tell that Hao was frustrated with me though he kept his calm collected image. I was able to work on my punches, kicks, sword attacks, speed, and obtain unity with Cho in thoughts and movements. I trained day and night, and I could feel myself getting stronger. However, it was pretty boring in the forest. I really didn't have a purpose in doing the training other than protecting myself. I only went along with it because I don't want to lose to those cloaked people and seem helpless. I even agreed to Hao that I would enter the Shaman tournament. That was because I actually have no reason to go back home. There's no family or friends that would care about me anyways, so I figured I would just enjoy myself.

"Cloud, it's time to train." I heard Hao's voice, but it was faint, so I remained sprawled out on the floor. I was still tired from the morning training.

I felt a nudge against my back. It was probably Hao's foot. I wondered what he would do if I didn't get up. "Hey." I felt the foot nudge me a couple more times, but I still ignored it. "Fine, you leave me no choice." Without warning, I felt him pick me up and my eyes shot open. I saw nothing but the blue sky and felt myself fall.

"Hey!" I cried out and dropped into the cold water. I guess that was what happens if I didn't get up. I surfaced the water coughing. I saw Hao smirking at me and made a disgusted face.

"Give me 10 laps around this whole lake." He ordered.

I slipped off my sword around my back. "Here." I was about to throw it to him, but he held up his hand to stop me.

"Keep that on. You should always stay with your weapon." He informed.

"What? It's heavy." I groaned and slipped it back on. "Where's your weapon?"

"I don't need one. Start already Cloud, you are wasting time."

Arg stupid Hao, I thought to myself. I started swimming, keeping my pace. The lake was not that big, but it wasn't considered small either. It took a pretty long time just to do one lap, but at all times I could see Hao from where I was swimming. I finished my first lap in thirty minutes and started on my second lap, all tired out.

On my fifth lap, I felt like dying. It was hard to breathe and I noticed that the sun was setting. I was kind of proud of myself though. I had gotten stronger since I started Hao's training. Though he makes it very intense, it helps me. Halfway through my fifth lap, a chain wrapped around my waist. My eyes shifted to the shore, but before I had time to react, it pulled me out of the water.

I landed on the floor roughly and slowly I pushed myself up off the ground. I was breathing heavily, but I saw about ten cloaked people. What were they called anyways? I asked myself. Hao appeared behind me and I could already imagine him smirking already. I believe that he smirks to everything, it's actually kind of annoying because it makes the person feels that he knows something that they don't.

"Cloud, let's test out how much you have improve shall we?" His voice sounded behind me.

The chain around my waist suddenly pulled me forward. I punched, kicked, and dodged like all the times I've practiced with Hao. Before I knew it, they were all on the floor knocked out. I looked up over to Hao and guess what? He had smirked again. Does he not smile? I questioned silently. I was beat. The swimming took a lot of my energy and the fighting didn't help.

I took about two steps before I was surrounded by twenty cloaked figures this time. The big guy who I knew as Yashi now, appeared beside Hao. He was chuckling and the cloaked figures were usually silent.

"We have appeared Cloud. Did you miss us?" His voice boomed. "You look too tired to run this time, but I'm not sure how this might turn out considering that the infamous Hao Asakura is here." He gazed at Hao. "By the way, what are you doing with her? My men had said that you have been spending a large amount of time with her…" He paused and joked. "Does the emotionless Hao Asakura have feelings now?"

I could see Hao tense up at those words. I learned that Hao would not admit himself to having any kind of weakness. He especially said that emotions were a large weakness that humans contained. It causes them to falter, hesitate, and question themselves.

"Yashi, I know what you are up to." Hao stated and Yashi looked taken back. "But you can't have it because a person like you isn't worthy of that kind of power."

I thought Yashi would be angry at those words, but he just chortled loudly. "What would you know? You are only a mere child. There are many things about me that you can never discover." He looked over to me. "What are you waiting for? Get her."

I turned to block a hit and started defending myself. This was harder. They were stronger than the last bash and I had already used up most of my energy. I dodged and brought down about ten people before I was punched in the face. I caught myself before I fell and tried to flip outside of the ring where they surrounded me. There was no luck and only ended up being punched and kicked a couple more times before I fell to the ground. I grimaced at the pain when I attempted to move up. I was able to stand, but I was unstable.

I wasn't sure what words was exchanged between Hao and Yashi, but I saw flames surrounding the cloaked figures. They screamed. Hao's face flashed before me and just like that, we were back near our cave.

"Hao." I was grabbing his poncho.

He ignored me. "Cho. Let's go. They know where we are."

The angelic figure appeared and nodded. She flew to Hao's side. "How far are they?"

"The other side of the lake." Hao stated calmly.

They won't take long to get here. Cho gazed at me. "Let's go somewhere else. I don't think we can fight…"

Hao glared and Cho scratched her head.

"Not that I meant that you aren't strong enough. It's just that it's risky." Cho flapped her wings and hovered above them. "I don't want Cloud to be hurt. They probably have something planned. I don't think they would underestimate you."

His eyes shifted around. She's probably right. He slipped his arms behind my back and under my knees, then scooped me off the ground.

My eyes went wide. "Hey. I can walk you know."

He looked down at me and smirked. "I know, but you might be a little slow and bring us down. We don't want to risk that."

Cho appeared before my face and giggled. "It's true."

I made a face and pouted. Cho is starting to side with Hao more.

"Spirit of Fire." Hao called out and the large guardian made its entrance. He jumped onto his guardian and Cho followed. The Spirit of Fire took off into the sky and flew above the trees.

I glanced down to see Yashi and his men gazing up at us. He gave a mischievous smile when he saw me looking down. I shuddered. He is scarier looking then when I first saw him.

Yashi watched the Spirit of Fire soar above him and disappear. Hao's running away. He laughed and indicated to his men. "Head back. This is a far more interesting chase then I imagined"  
"Okay Hao. You can put me down now." I stated and looked at his never fazing expression.

He gazed at me. "Time for another test."

I was caught off guard as he threw me off the Spirit of Fire and fell from thousands of feet from the sky. Damn him always doing unexpected things. I quickly glance up to see Cho being just as surprised as I was, but she shot down towards me. There wasn't a possibility that Cho could reach me in time. I was too far. I turned towards the fast approaching ground. Furyoku. That's what I needed. I closed my eyes and concentrated as I stuck out my hands. Come on… to my hands. A burst of light emitted from my palms and shot towards the ground. I felt myself slowed a bit and opened my eyes. I was slowing down so I wouldn't hit the ground that hard. Hah, I can beat your tests Hao.

However, I spotted a group of little children running away from a little boy with red hair. The little boy was standing still with an angry expression, but there was roots around him that shot towards the children.

What? I was distracted and my full attention was caught onto the little boy. "Hey!" I withdrew my hands without realizing it and clenched my fists. The light disappeared and I fell faster. I guess I stunned myself so I just covered my head as I fell through the trees. I hit the ground hard and the air got knocked out of me. I winced and coughed. As I took deeper breaths, my vision hazed and darkened.

Cho flew down beside Cloud and panicked, when she saw her on the ground passed out. "Cloud!" She circled her. "Wake up! Wake up! Are you okay?"

There was no response and Cho flew around her furiously. Hao landed beside Cho, stopping her. He kneeled on one leg. "That wasn't what I expected. She is weaker than I thought." Something distracted her.

"Hao! That was too sudden! She could've died!" Cho shouted.

He looked up at her. "A shaman should be prepared for everything. She should expect every possibility, especially in her position." He gazed back to Cloud. She almost saved herself. He thought back to a couple seconds ago when she was falling. He had clearly seen her slowed her fall, but he noticed her eyes drifted and caused her to lose concentration.

Cho heard footsteps and looked away from Cloud to see a little boy with red hair. She stared into his eyes and something about them frightened her. What's with this boy?

The boy's face twisted into frustration when he saw that Cho was frightened of him. He stared at her intensely and full of anger. Without warning, roots lashed out at her.

Cho shielded herself, but the roots just went through her, not harming her. It shocked him and saw that she was transparent. What is she?

Hao stood up and looked over to the boy. He gazed into his eyes and saw pain, loneliness, anger, and sadness. The boy's gaze turn to Hao and they just stared at each other. This boy…

Roots flew towards Hao and wall of fire rose up and quickly blocked it off. Hao threw fireballs over to the boy, but the roots protected him and took the hits. Then it circled Hao, who exploded the roots with fire. The little boy glared then roots entwined around Cloud.

"Hao!" Cho cried out. "Do something!"

He glowered at Cho then jumped over to Cloud and pulled her sword. It sliced through the roots entwining her and she dropped to the ground. He flipped to the floor, picked her up, and enveloped in flames.

The little boy's angered face changed to a saddened expression when they disappeared. 


	5. Chapter 5

Yoh ran around the streets searching for Cloud, but didn't see any hints of her. The sky was darkening and it was beginning to grow quiet. He looked at the photo he held in his hand. Cloud had dropped it when she ran past him and he picked it up because he knew it was something important to her. There was a younger version of Cloud at the center with a man and a woman standing behind her, which Yoh figured to be her parents. A boy was kneeling next to Cloud and smiling happily. He looked to be about 6 years older than her so Yoh could only figure that it was her brother. He looked up and slipped it into his pocket. It was late and Anna would be mad if he didn't go home soon. Deciding to give up, he headed back to the inn. _Cloud, where did you go? Did you get caught?_ He wondered worried because he spent the whole day looking for her.

He sighed inwardly and trudged up to the door. "Anna, I'm ba-" After he had opened the door, a pan hit him squarely in the face and he fell backwards.

"Yoh, your late." Anna glared at him from the couch. Beside her, Manta was giving a nervous laughter as he fanned Anna with a huge leaf.

Yoh got up with one eye closed and a grin. "Sorry Anna. But… we have a problem."

She crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Of course, we have a problem. We don't really have time for you to be out right now. They already sent us information about the Shaman tournament. So we have somewhere to be Yoh."

"What? Already?" Yoh scratched his head.

"Of course Yoh. Everyone saw the signal last night. So we are all here again to start on another ridiculous hunt for some invisible town." A familiar voice answered.

Yoh turned his head to see none other then Ren Tao with his arms crossed and watching him. "Oh hey Ren. When did you get here?"

"Seriously Yoh, I've been waiting for you to get back since this morning." He sighed.

An arm went around Ren's neck and the person laughed. "When I got here, he was already here and impatient. I thought he was going to blast the whole place apart."

"Horo Horo. You're here too!" Yoh said amazed.

"Remove your arm or I shall have to cut it off." Ren threatened.

"Ren. Be nice." A gentle but firm voice confronted Ren.

Yoh turned to see Jun. "Jun! You're here too!"

She made a face. "Yoh, do you not look around? Everyone is here." She pointed at the large group of people who were too busy with each other to notice Yoh.

Yoh laughed and scratched his head. "I knew that." He smiled at waved. "Hi guys."

"Yoh!" They all turned around and shouted. "What took you so long?"

"I had a problem… Oh yeah…" He turned to Anna. "Anna, Cloud's gone."

Her relaxed face now became serious. "What do you mean gone?"

"The cloaked people and Yashi appeared and she was chased. After I fought with some of them, I couldn't find her." Yoh informed them with an innocent look on his face.

Ren and everyone else was listening to his conversation and questions aroused. "Cloaked people?"

"Yashi?"

"Who are they?"

"What's going on?"

"What's happening?"

"Stop." Ren glared at the group then turned to Yoh. "You might as well explain everything."

Anna stood up with her arms still crossed. "Let's put it simple and a lot shorter. We ran into a girl yesterday name Cloud, apparently she is being accused of burning houses, but she states that she is innocent. However, there are some shamans after her. For what particular reasons, we don't know. Now Yoh says she is gone because they were attacked by those shamans."

Manta nodded in agreement. "Nice job Anna. That saved a lot of time."

"Yeah Anna." Yoh grinned at her.

For some particular reason, after seeing Yoh looking at her so adorably, Anna wanted to blush, but she managed to cover it up.

"So Yashi is this big guy." Yoh spread his arms wide and motioned it around to try to show the size of Yashi. "And the cloaked people look like this." He grabbed the curtain and wrapped it around himself.

"Yoh…" Anna growled and kicked him, which sent him flying to the other side of the room.

"So what do we do now? We need to start the Shaman tournament." Ren noted.

"Ren's right. We're a bit behind now." Horo Horo added.

Anna looked at all their faces. "We'll set out tomorrow morning."

Yoh appeared beside her looking concerned. "I-"

"We are going to be looking for Cloud at the same time we are looking for Summer Spring."

"Summer Spring?"

"That's the place we are looking for Yoh." Anna eyed him with a bored expression. "We have two months to find them both. I think they gave us more time because it's a new location that they had never used before so there won't be any help. No one else would know the location either. It is going to be tougher than the last one."

"What if the girl is still in this area?" Jun asked.

Anna looked over to her. "There is a large possibility, however, since there are people after her, she won't be able to stay in this city. Either they captured her, or she is still running. Let's hope that we are going to meet her along the way."

"May I ask? How does Cloud look like?" Ryu questioned. "Therefore we would know if we did see her."

"Oh." Yoh fished his pockets and found the photo. "This a picture of her when she was younger, but she is a year younger than me right now. I'm guessing she is about 10 in this picture, so 6 years ago?" He stuck the photo out to Ryu.

Ryu took the picture from Yoh's hand and examined it. "Wow! She's so cute!"

Jun's expression flicked to a sad one for a second, but it vanished quickly. In spite of this, Anna was the only one who caught it and gave an almost visible smile.

"Let me see!" Horo Horo popped up beside Ryu and took the picture from him. He blushed at the sight of her.

Chocolove took the picture from Horo Horo and smiled at it. "If that was her when she was 10, she is probably even prettier today." He placed a hand on Lyserg's shoulder. "Hey Lyserg, look at her."

Lyserg looked at it and smiled, but suddenly the picture gave him a familiarity. He gazed at it intently and raked his memories. He couldn't remember where he had seen those faces though.

Chocolove now bounded over to Ren and was shoving the picture into his face.

Ren glanced at it and nodded. But, he kept shoving the picture into his face so Ren got irritated. "I see it! So stop sticking it in my face!" He yelled as he brought out his weapon.

Chocolove jumped back frightened and scurried over to Faust. "Faust, here you go." Chocolove handed the picture to him.

"I don't need to look at it." He answered gazing lovingly at Eliza.

Horo Horo looked annoyed. "That's not the point! You need to see it so you know who she is when we look for her."

"Oh…" Faust took the photo and gazed at it then passed it over to Jun, who passed it over to Pirika, who passed it to Tamao, and finally it went back to Yoh, who slipped it back into his pocket.

Anna looked at Yoh. "I'm hungry. Where's dinner?"

"Ah…" Yoh scratched his head. "I'll go make it right now."

"Um…" Tamao reached out her hand. "eh… Y-yoh…" She stuttered and blushed when Yoh turned to look at her. "Y-you don't need to. I already did."

Yoh's smile brightened and widened. "Really? You're the best Tammy!" He was really happy that he didn't have to cook, since he wasn't that good at it.

Tamao blushed even harder. "L..lets go eat everyone…"

"Whoo food!" Horo Horo cheered happily along with Yoh.

Anna was watching Tamao and sighed inwardly and then she followed them to the kitchen, not surprised to see a large amount of dishes on the table.

"Food!" Horo Horo, Ryu, and Yoh sparkled with happiness. They dropped down to the floor and began munching on the dishes.

"This is so delicious!" Ryu praised Tamao with sparkles in his eyes.

Horo Horo nodded furiously and pointed his chopsticks at her. "You'll be a good wife one day."

"Ah…" Tamao look to the floor and blushed again.

"Horo Horo, don't say stuff like that to a girl." Pirika glared at her brother.

He had on an clueless expression and stopped to look at her with an asparagus hanging out of his mouth. "What is it Pirika?"

She sighed. "Nevermind." Pirika stood up and leaned into the table as she poured herself a bowl of soup.

Sadly Ren was sitting beside her, so as she turn, she stumbled and spilt her bowl of soup onto Ren.

"AH!" Ren cried out as the burning liquid covered him. "Hot! Hot!"

"Ah! I'm sorry! Sorry! Sorry Ren!" Pirika apologized furiously and grabbed napkins to wipe off the soup while Horo Horo burst out laughing.

Ren was red from the burn and he was twitching, clearly annoyed. However, with Pirika close to his face as she hastily dabbed at his face, he couldn't help but blush. Good thing he was already red to have anyone else notice…except…Anna.

_What? Why am I blushing?_ He shook his head and pushed Pirika away from his face. "I'm going to take a shower." He glanced elsewhere and stood up.

She grabbed his hand and bowed her head. "Gomen Ren. I'm really sorry."

He eyed her, who was looking so down, and moved his hand to lift her chin so she could look up.

Her heart suddenly beat faster. _What is this feeling? Why?_

"Don't look so worried. I'm alright." Ren assured and walked away towards the bathroom.

Pirika's heart was pounding as she watched his retreating back. _Um, I'm confused. Isn't Ren suppose to be colder towards people? The heartless handsome cold strong Tao Ren. Handsome?… Handsome…._

Everyone stared at her as she sat back down, looking dazed. She hung her head and turned to Anna. "Sorry Anna, for making a mess."

"It's fine. Only that you have to clean up after everyone has finished." Anna closed her eyes and informed.

Pirika sweat dropped and chuckled awkwardly. "Hai…"

Jun and Ryu were giggling mischievously and Horo Horo's jaw had dropped to the table. _No way! No way! _He sighed. _My sister is starting to fall for Ren? This could cause problems…_

"Wanna hear a joke? I finally got a good one!" Chocolove exclaimed excitedly.

"No!" Horo Horo cried out.

"Come on! Come on! It's a good one!" He flashed a smile and gave a thumbs-up sign.

"No!" Horo Horo shouted again.

Chocolove paused. "I'll wait until Ren comes back then."

Anna glanced at Manta. "Manta could you explain what's happening with the Shaman Tournament to Yoh? I don't feel like talking right now."

"Sure Anna." Manta looked at Yoh laughing and shoving spoonfuls of food into his mouth and sweat dropped. "Yoh… Yoh… Yoh! Could you stop for a second?"

Yoh turned to Manta with a smile. "What's wrong Manta?"

"Okay, you need to know about the Shaman Tournament…" The short little boy started. He explained to Yoh that the shamans have two months to find Summer Spring. There won't be any battles between shamans before that, but if there were any, it isn't forbidden. It would be a free for all. There are no clues to where it is located except that it isn't seen and that shamans would receive new oracle bells from owls during their search.

"Hey…" Yoh was looking at his food. "Why did people decided to eat eggs?"

Manta dropped to the ground. "Yoh! Were you listening to me?"

Yoh grinned at Manta. "Of course! Summer Spring sure sounds like a happy place though."

He sighed. What did he expect from Yoh? Yoh was too carefree and easy going. Manta doubt Yoh was going to worry about the tournament at all.

"Manta?"

He over to Yoh. "Yeah?"

"Why are they using owls?" Yoh pondered.

Manta hung his head and shrugged. "Perhaps eagles are becoming extinct and they don't want to risk people shooting them down."

"Oh, I see…" Yoh laughed. "Owls makes me think about Harry Potter. Hey do you think they are real?"

He kept his head down and sweat dropped again. "I'm sorry Yoh. I doubt it."

Ren finally returned back to the table after his shower. He was rubbing his hair with a towel and sat down beside Pirika again.

"Welcome back Ren!" Chocolove jumped up. "Now! I have a question to ask you!"

"Hm?" Ren looked over to Chocolove lazily then realized what he was going to do.

"What do you call a hot dog without the hot dog?" He paused. "A bun!" He shouted and started laughing.

Ren jumped up angrily and brought out his weapon, poking his nose which caused him to scream. "No one thinks its funny!"

Horo Horo and Lyserg were scratching their head with a smile. "Can't say he didn't expect that." Horo Horo noted.

Lyserg nodded. "I thought so too."

A couple stifled giggles was heard and Ren stopped chasing Chocolove. He looked over to Pirika and Jun, who were trying not to laugh, and sweat dropped.

"Pirika! That wasn't even a tad bit funny!" Horo Horo exclaimed and gazed over to the 'joker.'

Chocolove had his hands together and his eyes were shimmering with happiness and tears.

Ren put his hand to his head. "Oh no. This is going to go to his head."

"Thank you! Thank you! Pirika and Jun understands me most! I am touched by your laughter!" He ran around now happy and pumping his fist into the air. "I will work harder to create funnier jokes!"

Horo Horo sighed and pointed at Pirika accusingly. "Don't encourage him Pirika!"

"I thought it was kind of funny!" Pirika stood up angry. "What I can't laugh now, ONI-CHAN?"

Horo Horo was taken aback. "Eh, not what I meant Pirika… I…"

Yoh was sniggering at them, but Anna hit him in the head, like always.

She glared at her brother, turned her back on him, and stomped off.

"What? I…" Horo Horo hung his head. "The world is scaring me now."

Lyserg gave him a pat on the back. "I feel sorry for you. Now I'm glad I'm an only child."

"It's alright baka. I know how you feel." Ren nodded.

"What are you implying Ren?" Jun stood towering over her brother.

His hair stood up and he felt chills, but he replied calmly. "Nothing you should worry about my dear sister."

Manta sighed. He wondered if they could fight less and work together later on during their journey. He hoped it wasn't like the search for Dobie Village(Patch), where they didn't get there until the last day. They argued a lot during that period and counting the encounters they had with Hao, it delayed them a lot of time. Manta placed on a smile now. He was going to go along with them so it was going to be an exciting adventure. In fact he couldn't wait until tomorrow, he wondered if he could sleep at all. Of course Anna was going to be going along too, so was Tamao, Jun, and Pirika, even though they aren't participating in the tournament. Problems will eventually occur and Manta decided, with lots of enthusiasm, that he is going to solve them all. He circled his head to examine everyone. Ryu was staring at the ceiling, Jun was watching him, Lyserg was watching Chocolove, who was dancing around happily, Horo Horowas glancing over at Anna frightened, Anna was eying Yoh, who was on the floor knocked out, Tamao was also watching Yoh, Pirika was gone, and Ren had his eyes closed and legs crossed like he was meditating. Manta nodded. Yup, it is going to be interesting.


	6. Chapter 6

-Thanks for the reviewz

Umm letz see… um main parings…

Most likely… YohxAnna, RenxPirika, JunxRyu, Lysergxjeanne, Haoxoc, Horohoroxtamao, Faustxeliza, um who am I missing? Wellz maybe they might change too… ill figure it out later P

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"_Careful Cloud, you shouldn't run across the street like that!" Her mother cried out, but ten-year-old Cloud was already on the other side._

_The little girl reached the lamp post and turned around waving at her parents._

"_Cloud, you should look both ways before you cross and make sure there isn't any cars. Like this." Her father and mother both stepped off the sidewalk turning their heads. After they saw that there were no cars, they began walking towards her with a smile on their faces. "See… it's safe to cross now."_

_They were holding each others hands happily and making their way across the street when the unexpected happened…. _

_...A car hit them. Cloud's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open._

_Blood splattered all over the place and her parents dropped to the floor, nearly torn apart. Cloud dropped to her knees, shut her eyes tightly, grabbed her head with her hands, and screamed. As she sobbed uncontrollably, the engine of the car was fading away as it zoomed further._

Cloud jolted out of her dream and found herself sitting up on a bed she wasn't familiar with. Her heart was beating rapidly and she was breathing in a harsh rhythm. She shut her eyes and rubbed her forehead then pulled her knees against her chest to hug it. Cloud rested her head against her knees and took inhaled deeply to stop herself from crying. _It's okay… it's okay… it's okay…_ She repeated over and over in her head.

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(If you remember, Cloud is a week ahead of Yoh and the others, so I need to catch them up first so they can be on the same time.)

"Horo Horo! Wake up Oni-chan!" Pirika jumped onto the sleeping Ainu shaman.

"Ugg!" Horo Horo peeked on eye open to see Pirika sitting on him, then glanced over to the window, only to see that it was still dark outside. He shut his eye and tried to turn over and pull the blanket over his head.

"Horo Horo! You have to get up!" Pirika ordered and shook him. "Anna says it's time to go."

"The sun hasn't even come up yet…" He grumbled and buried his face into his pillow.

"She wants to start early so it won't be hot. Come on, you don't want to be left behind do you?" Pirika stood up and put her hands on her hips.

Horo Horo ignored her and went on sleeping.

"Horo Horo…" She began tapping her foot impatiently. A couple more seconds past by and she shook her fist in anger. "WAKE-" Before she could punch him and send him flying, a foot kicked her brother to the other side of the room.

She looked to her side to see Ren standing beside her with a smirk on his face.

Horo Horo now jumped up crossly. "Ren! WHAT IS THAT FOR?"

He crossed his arms and glared. "You are taking forever to get up. We are leaving in ten minutes and everyone is waiting for you."

Horo Horo looked to the door to see Anna standing there also with her arms crossed and tapping her foot. "Speed it up Pokey." He sighed.

Yoh appeared behind her yawning and scratching his head. "Anna… It's so early…" He whined.

She glowered at him. "Don't complain Yoh, otherwise, I'll triple your training."

He gulped and gave Horo Horo a smile, who returned it with a sympathetic look.

So the group left twenty minutes later instead of ten because Yoh had fallen asleep standing up and as a consequence of that, Anna had punched him and knocked him out, accidentally.

They were trudging tiredly to Manta's uncle's private jet early that morning with Manta and Anna being the only two who were officially wide awake. Manta was excited and had thought up a direction to head towards, which he hoped was correct based on instinct. He told the pilot, who looked a bit groggy, to fly north and with Lyserg's dowsing ability, his pendulum indicated that there was a fair amount of shamans heading towards that direction. And that gave Manta some confidence.

During the flight, just about everyone, except Manta, was sleeping peacefully. It was a quiet time and Manta was happy for the silence, so he had the time to see if he could gather any information about Summer Spring on the net. Information about summer resorts, spas, and springs, and such attractions were the only result he received on after half an hour of search. Manta rubbed his ear. _Of course there isn't going to be any information. What was I thinking? It is suppose to be a secret location._ He decided to search for any information regarding Cloud and to his amazement several links popped up. The first one he clicked was an article regarding Cloud's actions the past few days. It read that the police force had received tips from people, who wished to remain anonymous, informing them that they had spotted Cloud at the scene of the crime, which was burning people's home. Luckily in the homes they accused her of burning, no one was harmed. Her schoolmates reported that her recent behavior showed signs of guilt and it aroused suspicion. Her sudden disappearance from school was said that it may indicate proof that she is fleeing from the crimes she committed. Many of her classmates had agreed that they believe that she is guilty of such crimes and stated that she was 'that' type of person. It was written that if she was spotted, then they were to report her immediately to have her questioned. Manta shook his head after he finished. After meeting her, he didn't think she could be like what the article accused her to be like.

He froze. _Wait, didn't Cloud tell us that her classmates accuse her of **killing** their families? _He read the article again. The article said that no one was hurt. _Why would her classmates accuse her of doing something that horrible? _Yup, he was pretty sure now that she was framed. He saved the article onto his laptop and decided to show it to Anna later on when she wakes up.

Going to the next link, he found another article, but it was dated six years ago. Curious, Manta read the title, 'Parents' bizarre change to attempt murder on child.' He gulped at the what he read. _Oh no, a tragic past_. He began to read the story, but stopped when he realized it had nothing to do with Cloud. He was relieved and went back to the links. He found another article which read, 'Daughter sees parents' deaths' and sweat dropped. _They seem so negative._ This time it reported that a little girl was about ten years old who was out with her parents. The little girl had ran across the street and made it safely, whereas her parents were crossing the sidewalk at a simple pace, but a car was reported that it suddenly appeared and hit them. The little girl had witness the event and was near hysterics. The driver had disappear and no one had a clear view of what the person looked like. It was declared a 'hit and run' incident. There was a picture at the bottom of the article and Manta examined it. Their names were not reported, but Manta wanted to be sure that it wasn't her. He was staring at the picture. There was a little girl, and boy and their parents. He leaned closer to the screen. The little girl was adorable and there was a resemblance to Cloud.

"No wonder the photo looked familiar to me."

The voice startled Manta and he jumped. He turned to see Lyserg looking at the screen over his shoulder. "Lyserg?"

"The picture that Yoh showed us. When I saw it, it seemed like someone showed it to me before." Lyserg furrowed his eyebrows. "Just now, this article just made me remember that I had seen it."

"When?" Manta's full attention was now on Lyserg.

"My father. He was a dowser. Her parents died and they couldn't find the culprit, so the police force decided to just leave it because they had no clue. They said it was an accident and just left the case, but my father believed otherwise. I think it was because they were shamans that my father was caught interested. Normally shamans wouldn't die because of an car accident, so I suppose he wanted to see what he could do about it. I guess the photo was on his desk, when I happened to see it. My father ushered me out of his office when he had saw that I was holding the photo in my hand. I had asked about it, but he said I didn't need to worry about it." Lyserg informed.

"Her parents are shamans?" Manta asked.

"Yeah. I believed that I heard my parents talking about her after her parents died. She had turned into a very emotionless doll." His eyes drifted off thinking about how he felt after his parents died.

"Who is that?" Manta pointed at the boy beside Cloud.

Lyserg glanced at the picture. "That's probably her brother. He had to work to take care of her and him. I think it was pretty tough for him."

"Yeah probably." He clicked a link under the picture and a picture of a turned over car, that was all battered up, appeared.

Seventeen-year-old boy dies in a car accident. Manta gazed up at Lyserg wide-eyed. _How much worse can this get?_ A teenage boy was driving his little sister when they were crossing a bridge, the driver behind them witness a car made an attempt to push the car off into the drainage canal (or flood control canal). It was a success when the boy's car skid onto the sidewalk and hit the railing, and flipped into the air. It plummeted down over into the canal and slammed onto the rocky bottom upside down. Many civilians had climbed down to try to save the kids. They pulled out the unconscious teenaged boy and the little girl sitting inside out from the car. The little girl was crying when she saw her brother and had refused to answer any questions. Both were brought to the hospital to have them examined. About four hours later, the teenage boy died from severe head injuries and immense blood loss, but the girl was safe with only minor injuries.

Lyserg sighed. "So she lost everyone. Was she living with anyone when she came to Anna and Yoh?"

Manta shook his head. "No, I don't think so. She never mentioned anyone."

"How tragic. It's hard to tell what happened to her especially when she smiles so easily."

Both Lyserg and Manta turned their heads to see Yoh and Anna looking over their shoulders. Manta gave a surprised laugh. "Yoh, Anna. You guys woke up."

"We pretty much all did when we heard Lyserg talking. Everyone's awake except for baka over there." Ren said, indicating at Horo Horo who was slumped on Tamao's shoulder drooling. Tamao was blushing, but since she was a nice and shy person, she didn't push off Horo Horo.

A voice from the speaker above them sounded. "Manta, we will be landing shortly in about ten minutes."

Manta nodded to himself and started putting his laptop into his backpack. Everyone began getting their things ready, but Tamao couldn't because she was still Horo Horo's pillow.

"Horo Horo. Get up off her!" Pirika shouted in his ear, but her brother just tried digging his face deeper into her shoulder. This cause Tamao to blush even harder.

Ren put a hand on Pirika's shoulder. "Let me handle this." He said and she moved aside for him. He grabbed a clip and put it over his nose. After a couple seconds, Horo Horo began clawing at his nose, trying to get it off. Ren became irritated when he saw that Horo Horo had woke up and was still trying to get it off.

"Help I can't breath!" He shouted alarmed.

Ren gritted his teeth. "I can't believe that you are more stupid than I thought you were."

Pirika removed the clip and gave her brother an embarrassed stare. "You could have breathed through your mouth…"

He blushed. "I knew that. I was just testing you..."

"You're a pathetic pig." Ren crossed his arms.

Horo Horo stood up. "Well, you're a cow!"

"Hey! Where do strawberries play music?" Chocolove popped up beside Horo Horo. "At a jam session! Get it? HAHAHA!"

Both Horo Horo and Ren turned to Chocolove glaring and towering over him with fiery eyes. With one power punch, they sent him flying to the back of the plane.

Everyone hung their heads and sighed. Manta was relieved when they landed. Everyone got off the plane and waved to the pilot as he left. The sun was beginning to rise and everyone headed to town, to see if they could find anything.

"Okay, here's what we are going to do. Everyone split up and ask everyone to see if you can find any information on Summer Spring. Most likely we aren't, but try. Meet in the park later at 11 and we'll find a place to stay and get lunch. So do your best guys!" Manta instructed.

"Hey! I remember doing this for Dobie Village…" Ryu pouted. "It was tiring."

"Yeah, I'll agree…" Horo Horo added. "I can't believe we have to do this again."

"Don't complain guys. It's to find the next location. So you'll get something out of this." Manta assured.

"Oh and one more thing. If you spot any other shamans, just see what they do. Don't start a fight or make yourself known." Anna ordered. "It looks like this city is filled with humans so you won't want to draw attention to yourselves. Got that?"

"Hai Anna." They answered in unison.

"Tamao, Pirika, and Jun. You guys can come with me." Anna stated and they nodded.

So they all separated and began seeing if they could gather any information, but there was little luck. When they all met up again, the girls were all carrying shopping bags except for Anna, who had Tamao carry hers.

"You guys went shopping?" Horo Horo shouted accusingly. "That's not fair! We worked hard while you guys go shopping!"

Anna glared at Horo Horo and he gulped. "For your information, we aren't participating in this tournament. Only you guys are, so there's no need for us to work as hard as you do. We might as well enjoy the time we have now. Understand?"

Horo Horo nodded under her cold frightening glare. He made a mental note to himself, hoping he'll remember not to ever complain in front of Anna.

"Good. We'll go to lunch once everyone gets here." Anna sat down at a bench and closed her eyes.

When everyone had arrived, the group went out to eat Italian, after much argument between Horo Horo and Ren and Anna stepping in and deciding. They found a hotel to stay in and everyone went back on their search for the rest of the day until dinner. They hadn't spotted any shamans nor found any clues about their next location. So they rested for the night and the next morning headed north to the next city.

Owls flew past them and into the city before they reached it and they stopped.

"It looks like there are shamans in that city." Lyserg stated and watched as and owl landed before him. It was carrying the oracle bell around its leg and Lyserg removed it. It looked a bit different from the previous oracle bell, but it had the same abilities. He turned around to see that Yoh, Ren, Horo Horo, Ryu, Chocolove, Faust, and surprisingly Manta had also received one.

Manta was bewildered. "What? I get one?"

"How does the owls know who is participating anyways?" Ryu asked.

"These owls aren't just regular owls, they have the ability to sense who has the desire to be part of this tournament and it chooses whether you are worthy of participating." They turn to see Marco standing there with an owl on his arm. He was dressed casually and standing beside him was Jeanne, the ex-Iron Maiden.

"Marco! Jeanne!" Lyserg cried out surprised.

"Hello Lyserg." Jeanne gave him a smile.

"Wait, I don't understand." Manta cried out.

Marco pressed his lips and said. "It thinks you are worthy of being in this tournament."

"I don't have a partner though." Manta pointed out. "I can't even fight."

"Yes, you can." A light appeared from his backpack. "In case you've forgotten about me. I've been sleeping in you laptop for a while now. I actually enjoy it in there."

"Mosuke!" Manta cried out as the spirit visualized before him.

"Let's work together!" Mosuke grinned at him.

"Really? Alright!" Manta was clearly excited as he took the oracle bell from the owl. "This is cool."

"Hey! What happens when you tell an egg a joke?" Chocolove laughed. "It-"

"Wrong time." Anna punched his head and he melted towards the ground.

"…cracks…up…" He sprawled out on the ground with a knocked out expression.

Jeanne and Marco gave a startled look towards Anna and she just returned their gaze with a cold stare that sent chills down their backs.

Jeanne gave a small giggle. "Since we are all here, let's all go to town together."

Yoh and Lyserg nodded then smiled. "Sure."

With two more people along beside them, it was hard not for anyone to notice such a big group walking together into town. They still had no luck finding any information, but they spotted other shamans doing the same thing. All shamans avoided them, mainly because of the large group they were in. It was an advantage if you didn't want to be attacked. They were afraid that if they attacked then the huge group would jump in and they would be outnumbered.

For a couple days, they drifted north from city to city, and seeing more shamans along the way. This gave them reassurance, but they knew that this is going to be difficult to find. It wouldn't be easy at all.

Lyserg sat down on a bench as he watched Yoh complaining to Anna that he wanted a smoothie, but Anna was yelling at him, telling him that he needed to keep his diet so he could become stronger. Horo Horo and Ren were arguing about what to eat again and Chocolove was sprawled out on the floor, like always, after a not-so-funny joke. Manta was becoming more acquainted with Mosuke and training himself to be stronger. Faust and Eliza were somewhere and Pirika and Tamao were chatting away, just like Jun and Ryu, who seemed to be getting along better these days. Lyserg sighed. They were once again taking another break because they can't decide what they want to do. This was what caused them to go at such a slow pace.

Jeanne sat down beside him and Marco beside her. "Hey Lyserg."

"Hey…" He was resting his head on his hands with a bored expression.

"How have you been holding up after the X Laws?" Jeanne asked.

"I've been doing alright. Things have been better for me." He replied. "How about you?"

"Marco and I decided to become our own person. No more plans to restart the X Laws. I guess I wasn't really thinking straight back then." Jeanne smiled. "I know Hao is still alive and I am going to stop him. But don't worry, I won't be so selfish this time that I hurt innocent people."

Lyserg returned her smile. "You've changed Jeanne."

"It's a good thing, I suppose. I feel more free now." Her smile faded. "Are you still after Hao?"

Lyserg didn't reply and just closed his eyes.

"You are, aren't you?" She put a hand on his shoulder. "Revenge isn't a good thing Lyserg. Remember that you should forgive? Would your parents want that? You can stop him, but just don't have revenge at heart."

He turned and grinned. "You really have changed Jeanne."

Jeanne blushed, which surprised Lyserg and Marco. While they were pondering why she blushed, she got up and walked towards the trees. There was some odd feeling about this tournament, that it wasn't going to go as planned. She looked over to Anna, who was now hitting Yoh. She knew Anna felt a bit tense about this tournament too, she could feel it. It was an uneasy feeling. That's why she decided to join this tournament, so she could help out if something were to happen. She was still worried about Hao's plans, but it seemed as though he was suppose to be the least of her worries. There was something else going on. Something they don't expect.

Anna turned and caught Jeanne's gaze. _Anna, you feel it too don't you?_ Jeanne finally broke it by smiling and giving Anna a wave. _I wonder if we are going to be enough... I wonder what's happening... I wish I knew…_


End file.
